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Journal of Political Economy Vol. 106 No. 2 1998

Advance‐Purchase Discounts and Price Discrimination in Competitive Markets

James D. Dana, Jr.

Abstract

When both individual and aggregate consumer demand is uncertain and firms set prices before demand is known, price‐taking firms may offer advance‐purchase discounts. Consumers with relatively more certain demands and with relatively lower valuations have an incentive to buy in advance the presence of other consumers with higher valuations and more uncertain aggregate demand increases the price they expect to pay in the spot market. Advance‐purchase sales are made to low‐valuation customers, as predicted by traditional models of second‐degree price discrimination, without assuming that firms have market power.

DOI
10.1086/250014
Volume
106
Issue
2
Pages
395-422
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref bibtex:phds-export.bib

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